Wednesday, August 13, 2014

As I practice sketches to honor Robin Williams, and get together photos from Comicon for upcoming posts (I know I am such a slacker), I will leave you with something else for today. I took a Flash Animation class last Spring at Laguna College of Art and Design and it was a blast! I had the pleasure of taking this class the first time it was offered by Sierra Lewis, flash guru and art director at Renegade Animation. We worked from concept to storyboard, recording sound (Andy Pluma stars as the voice), animatic, to final...well, sort of. I have a long way to go. Though I have always been in love with animation- especially the likes of John K's Ren and Stimpy and other 90's Nickelodeon shows I have not studied the fundamentals for animation or traditional animation yet I dared myself to try flash and boy I am glad I got a taste. It not only gave me the tools to someday perhaps explore more digital formats for children's books, but gave me a deeper appreciation for animation in general. "Pizza Time" is my very first animation and it demonstrates the "tradigital" animation technique- basically drawing each frame digitally. Maybe 200 drawings. The most challenging on this one for me was learning how to make the cat walk back to the table. There is some improvement from my initial animatic to the final. " Moon Jump" demonstrates application of a rig where all of the parts you need for the animation are created like a puppet of sorts, and you just move each part to create your animation. The most challenging for me in this was trying to draw the mouth movements. Enjoy!

About the Illustrator

"Above all, it is important to do what you love in life. I am so happy to be doing just that- teaching art and freelance illustration in Southern California with my darling family, husband Chris and puppy Darwin. I grew up in the Sierra Mountains which influences my appreciation of nature and animals."
Clients include: The Arts Council of Long Beach, Studio 3 Glassworks, Miraleste Library, Marine Life Refuge City of Newport, Century 21, California Petites, San Clemente Art Supply, and Simply Special Creations. Previous and current projects include Murals, Sculpture, Illustration, and Logo Design.
Search my profile and portfolio at http://www.scbwi.org
or check out mywebsite:
www.heathersoodak.com